#RPGaDay Days 12-21

Catch up post because life is what happens when you’re making other plans.

12th) Which RPG has the most inspiring interior art?

Of the recent one’s I’ve read, Threadbare. It’s so evocative!

13th) Describe a game experience that changed how you play.

Buckle in, this is a long one.

So, the dude I was dating at the time was also in my gaming group. We wrapped up a campaign and he volunteered to run Warhammer FRPG. I wanted to play a noble or something and I wanted to play it with a female character. Well, you can imagine how that went over as apparently “the Old World doesn’t have women who do that”. We fought every step of that campaign, my character had to prove herself to every NPC we met, over and fucking over again. When she was finally killed (because I rolled badly on a stupid check I shouldn’t have even had to make), I seriously considered never playing an RPG again. Instead, I made a meek healer the next campaign and somehow she ended up losing her connection to her goddess because when she defended herself from attack her opponent accidentally died because he ruled she couldn’t pull her hit. Okay, got it. I make up a dude next. “A dude would never do that! You’re not playing a guy right!” That was pretty much the last straw. I never played Warhammer again, and mostly avoided playing when he was the GM.

Fast forward to present day. Now, unless there’s a compelling reason not to, I play a female character, usually Black as well. Even sometimes when the roles are pre-scripted I do, like when I played Ham in Witch, the Road to Lindisfarne, and played it as a woman who dressed as a man because she had no other way to provide for her orphaned younger siblings. And if anyone tries to give me shit about being ‘not historically accurate” I usually remind them we’re playing a game with fantasy elements and, even if we aren’t, IT’S A GAME, NOT A HISTORICAL REENACTMENT!!!

14th) Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play?

Too many to count. Generally PbtA.

15th) Which RPG do you enjoy adapting the most?

Tie between MonsterHearts and Urban Shadows, depending on what sweet spot I’m trying to hit. MonsterHearts for messy relationships, Urban Shadows for more political machinations.

16th) Which RPG do you enjoy using as is?

Too many to count. There are very few games I play that I have to tweak to make them enjoyable. Most of the time when we’re hacking them it’s to make them for a different setting, not because we aren’t having fun.

17th) Which RPG have you owned the longest but not played?

Tears of the Machine. Backed it, read it, decided it wasn’t my cup of tea so I never played it.

18th) Which RPG have you played the most in your life?

Not sure. Recently I’d have to say MonsterHearts. Overall it might be Rolemaster though, unless you count all of World of Darkness a single RPG. If you combined the multiple campaigns of Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage with the couple of Changeling and Wraith, it’s definitely WoD.

19th) Which RPG features the best writing?

War Birds. I’ve played or watched most of them and read all the rest and they are simply brilliant.